Emerald slide path
Quick reportbreemcoll · Jan 22, 2025 · Waterton Lakes
Quick report
- Weather
- sunny, warm
- Ride Type
- alpineSlopes, openTrees, sunnySlopes
- Riding Quality
- good
- Snow Conditions
- hard, powder, windAffected
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSlab, avalancheConditionSnow
Good turns above treeline, well skied below treeline. Saw some sz 1 avalanches in the alpine, 1 natural (south aspect) and 3 skier accidentals (east aspect). Cornices have been well fed by recent wind. Lots of evidence of yesterdays wind in transport and loading in the alpine. Warmer than forecasted, started seeing rollerballing off the skin track at around 1130, and snow was moist in the alpine at 1300.
Weather
- Avg Temp
- -12
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedCalm
- Blowing Snow
- none
- Sky Condition
- clear
- Temperature Trend
- rising
- Precipitation Type
- none
NAM 12 forecasted a cold day. By 1030 air temp in the shade on a white ski pole was only -9C. Started noticing rollerballing off the skin track at 1130. At 1300, as we were about to head down, snow was moist enough to make a snowball with one squeeze of a glove. Didn't notice any water on the rocks.
Snowpack
- Obs Type
- summary
- Site Aspect
- E, SE
- Site Elevation Band
- alp, btl, tln
In the slide path, fist wind transported snow around 2cm deep at the bottom, peaking at 20cm at treeline, and decreasing slightly to around 15cm in the alpine. Good turns up top, well skied out on the bottom. In the alpine, you can see strong wind affect especially on east slopes. The very breakable wind 'crust' is barely noticeable while skiing. Rollerballing started at 1130 off the skin track. Snow was moist in the solar alpine aspects by 1300. Cornices were looking juicy for this time of year on SW/S/SE aspects.
Avalanche
- Run Length
- 70
- Slab Width
- 10
- Trigger Type
- skier
- Wind Exposure
- leeSlope
- Avalanche Size
- 1
- Slab Thickness
- 10
- Trigger Sub Type
- accidental
- Start Zone Aspect
- E
- Vegetation Cover
- openSlope
- Start Zone Incline
- 38
- Avalanche Character
- windSlab
- Number Of Avalanches
- 2-5
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2500
- Runout Zone Elevation
- 2430
- Avalanche Observation
- 12hrsAgo
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- alp
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2025-01-22T19:45:00.000Z
Witnessed 3 skier accidental sz 1 avalanches off a false summit on emerald peak, east alpine aspect, at approximately 1245. Two arrested fairly quickly and only ran 20-30m. 1 entrained down the slope and ran approximately 60-70m. ⅔ released off rock bands above or below skier as they skied past. additionally saw one old sz 1.5 natural approx. 70m wide, 100m long on the small bowl lookers left that leads into the slide path around treeline. South alpine aspect. Hard to tell with the recent wind transport but guessing it occurred within the last 36 hours.